The pneumatic tire is a known solution for compliance, comfort, mass, and rolling resistance; however, the pneumatic tire has disadvantages in complexity, the need for maintenance, and susceptibility to damage. A device that improves on pneumatic tire performance could, for example, provide more compliance, better control of stiffness, lower maintenance requirements, and resistance to damage.
Conventional solid tires, spring tires, and cushion tires, although lacking the need for maintenance and the susceptibility to damage of pneumatic tires, unfortunately lack its performance advantages. In particular, solid and cushion tires typically include a solid rim surrounded by a resilient material layer. These tires rely on compression of the ground-contacting portion of the resilient layer directly under the load for load support. These types of tires can be heavy and stiff and lack the shock absorbing capability of pneumatic tires.
Spring tires typically have a rigid wood, metal, or plastic ring with springs or spring-like elements connecting it to a hub. While the hub is thereby suspended by the springs, the inflexible ring has only a small contact area with the road, which offers essentially no compliance, and provides poor traction and steering control.
Accordingly, a non-pneumatic wheel and a process for manufacturing a non-pneumatic wheel having performance characteristics similar to a pneumatic wheel would be useful. More particularly, a wheel and a method for manufacturing a non-pneumatic wheel that does not require an air inflation pressure in order to provide performance characteristics of a pneumatic tire would be beneficial. Such a wheel, and a method of making such wheel, having a hub or capable of being connected to a hub for mounting on a vehicle or other transport device would also be very useful.